Life After Hogwarts
by weaselby
Summary: Five years after leaving Hogwarts, Harry is eagerly waiting for the chance to see his friends Ron and Hermione again, only to be haunted by a little secret that Ginny has.


**Chapter One**

**Memories and Letters**

It had been five years since Harry had defeated the Dark Lord, five years since Harry said his final goodbye to Ron and Hermione, watching as the Malfoys held their son in relief that they were finally freed from their slavery. For Harry, however, it became the beginning of a new adventure: life without Voldemort's presence; and for the first time since he first discovered he was a wizard, Harry felt pleasant.

To harry, easing into this new life would not be difficult. It would be as if Voldemort had not existed, however, in thinking this, he remembered that the scar on his forehead was no gift from an accidental car crash. It would be there for the rest of his life and would remind him of the rough years he had as a schoolboy at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He wasn't ashamed of this and ensured himself that his bravery was for a good cause that helped Britain's population, both wizards and muggles equally.

But this thought came to upset Harry. He had not seen Ginny Weasley since he left the school. He had a frightening image pop into his mind of her marrying Draco Malfoy, who he had not heard about since his father had died in Azkaban, the wizard prison. While Harry noticed that Draco had changed from the smirking git he used to be, he thought he would have not appreciated Ginny the way he wished he could. Ginny, in Harry's eyes, resembled his mother, who Harry so willingly wanted to be in her arms again; this was not possible.

Grimmauld Place remained in the same state that it had been since Harry last visited with Ron and Hermione. His reasoning behind it included that he did not wish to destroy the last remaining memories of his late godfather, Sirius Black. Sirius had always believed that Harry would do great things, and it was only when Harry finally accomplished this, that he took the thought seriously. But, it was unfortunate that Harry had lost his most treasured friends and family, only to be left with a house elf that he had inherited.

"Master, a letter has just arrived," the house elf appeared from nowhere.

"What?" Harry spit out his sip of tea, "from where, who from?"

"From Ginny Weasley, sir," the elf handed him the letter.

Harry dropped his teacup which smashed instantly on the ground, taking the letter from Kreacher's hands and opened it with much excitement.

Dear Harry,

I hope things are going great for you, I'm sorry for the long wait, things haven't been going well here at the Burrow. Yesterday was the anniversary of Fred's death and we had a memorial service. I'm well past the fact, but mum still feels we ought to acknowledge it still. I just wish she'd move on and leave things the way they are, nothing's going to change the fact that he's dead. But I don't want o waste your time on that matter, I was merely going to send you an invitation to Ron and Hermione's wedding next Saturday. I was hoping you'd come, I mean, they're still your friends aren't they? Nothing has changed their status since you've left, at least in their minds.

By the time Harry reached this part he started to swallow, what would he say to Ginny? He knew he had to reply so that she would not feel as if he had deserted her, but he couldn't just say the obvious '_Yes'_. He then looked at the separate card attached to the letter: unlike Ginny's note, it looked much neater and elegant:

**Hermione Jean Granger and Ronald Bilius Weasley**

request the honor of your presence at their marriage

DATE: Saturday, June 16th, 2001

TIME: 12:00 PM

WHERE: The Burrow, Ottery St. Catchpole

_RSVP BY JUNE 14TH 2001_

Harry was pleased that his two best friends were finally getting married and remembered the kiss they had given each other during the battle against Voldemort. He had then thought of the dress robes that Ron would wear to this occasion and hope it would not resemble the one they both wore in their fourth year when attending the Yule Ball. Harry tucked the invitation in his robes pocket and looked at Ginny's letter once more. There was more writing:

II know this may come as a shock for you, but I still remember that last moment we had together in my bedroom. Of course, to you it may had been nothing but a plan that went wrong, so I won't discuss it any further as I know I'll regret doing so. Here's to hoping you come on Saturday.

Love,

Ginny

The memory of kissing Ginny made Harry's heart sank. He was deeply disgusted that he had forgotten about all their special moments and thought he should have been punished for doing so. Ginny was Harry's companion and lover, and there was nothing that could separate her from him. This brought a grin to Harry's face and he began to relax, thinking about her. . .

"_Harry...Harry," said Ginny, "wake up Harry."_

_The two of them had used the Room of Requirement to escape Filch, the undertaker. They realized that this was a bad idea and it could result in expulsion, but this wasn't a worry for them. Love was taking over their young minds and they knew nothing could have stopped this moment, not even the slightest rock thrown at the wall by Peeves._

"_I'm awake," yawned Harry as he stretched his arms besides his girlfriend, "what is it? Did Peeves wake you up with his new drums playing 'Harry is a Happy Wheezy Wizard'? I had hoped that they would keep him entertained and not ruin the walls and give us away."_

"_No, no, it wasn't that," Ginny yawned as well, "it was, well, nevermind."_

At this point, Harry has frozen; he never did find out why Ginny had responded the way she did. He was certain that it was important to their relationship and could eventually ruin it if it came back to Ginny's mind. his stomach began to spin around as if he had just digested some tainted pumpkin juice.

"Sir," said Kreacher, "would you like another cup of tea?"

Harry had forgotten about the shards of porcelain that now the house elf was busily trying to clean up. He looked at the flowers that lined the edges of the cup now cracked upon the middle, destroying its delicacy. Harry had always wondered why the cups had never been used after he found them in a box outside the garbage can; he had thought that it would have been worth over a thousand dollars.

"Sir," repeated Kreacher.

"What?" said Harry.

"Tea, sir?"

"Oh, er, no thanks."

The disgruntled house elf shrugged and took the fresh kettle away. To Harry's disbelief, it was often noted that Kreacher did not like to make tea and have it go to waste. Because it was just Harry and him, there was no one else to make drink the tea and it often got thrown into the bin.

Following this, Harry decided to spend the rest of the day in his garden. He thought that this would be a great alternative to sitting in the house and he would eventually forget about his trouble with Ginny and instead peer into the beautiful plants and animals that had ventured into his land since he made his reappearance.

Grimmauld Place's garden had changed entirely from being a dead land with dead trees into something that reminded Harry of the Hogwarts grounds. He took a flower in his hand and stared at it: it was a sunflower which resembled the one Luna had wore at Bill & Fleur's wedding. However, this thought made Harry's smile fade and he dropped the poor organism on the grass. He was determined not to feel pressured by his memories of Ginny and went back inside.

Without realizing, Harry opened the door quickly, slamming the house elf into the wall. After helping the elf up and apologizing, he ran up to his bedroom and threw his old chest to the bed. There was nothing else he wanted more than to go up to the Burrow and tell Ginny everything in his mind and to get all his questions answered. He threw all his clothes and wand inside the old chest, quickly took hold and apparated.

Kreacher stood in the empty house and waited for when his master would return to number twelve, sighing as he knew that this would become another year living unhappy and lonely. Even though he knew exactly where Harry was going, he would not follow in fear of being told off by and losing his only friend.


End file.
